Abreviated Vitae

Dr. Christopher received his PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from Colorado State University. He also holds a Master's degree in Meteorology from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT) and a Masters degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

After completing his PhD, Dr. Christopher joined the faculty at SDSMT in the Department of Meteorology. In 1997, he joined the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at UAHuntsville as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor at UAHuntsville in 2001 and Full Professor in 2007.

From August 2007-May 2014, he served as Associate Director of the Earth System Science Center. He served as Chairman of the Department of Atmospheric Science from 2010-2014. He succesfully designed a Master's level graduate program in Earth System Science that educates and trains graduate students in new paradigms involving research to decision making. In 2010 he was appointed as Director of the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications. In 2014 he was apponted as Dean of the College of Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dr. Christopher's research interests include satellite remote sensing of clouds and aerosols and their impact on air quality, environment, health, and global and regional climate. He works with numerous satellite data sets from polar orbiting and geostationary satellites, ground-based instruments, and aircraft data to study the earth-atmosphere system.He has published more than 100 peer reviewed papers in national and international journals including several review papers related to aerosols, air quality and the climate impacts of aerosols. He has served on numerous national and international committees including the Climate Change Science Panel and the GEWEX.

Dr. Christopher enjoys teaching and has designed and developed undergraduate and graduate level courses with special emphasis on hands-on training using satellite data. He also designed a professional development course for graduate students. In 2011 AGU published his book titled Navigating Graduate School and Beyond : A Career Guide for Graduate Students and a Must Read for every Advisor. As Dean of the College of the Science he designed a First year Experience course for incoming freshmen to succesfully transition from high school to the University.

Dr. Christopher has published extensively in national and international peer-reviewed journals and has also presented his work at major scientific conferences. He has been invited to speak at major venues including the World Federation of Scientists (Erice, Sicily), the United Nations Symposium in 2007 (Graz, Austria), the American Association for Aerosol Research, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), the United Nations Symposium on Space Applications, 2008 (Graz, Austria), the Osher Institute of Higher Learning, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and various national and international universities (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Purdue University, Texas A&M, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin, Goddard Space Flight Center, Colorado State University, and others).

He has also won several million dollars in numerous grants and contracts from NASA, NOAA, and other federal agencies for studying earth-atmosphere processes.

He has won several awards including the University Award for Research and Creative Achievement in 2006 and NASA New Investigator Award. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has served as an expert reviewer for the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP).

He is a citizen of the United States of America.

EDUCATION
1995 PhD (Atmospheric Science): Colorado State University
2002 MA (Industrial/Organizational Psychology), University of Alabama in Huntsville
1989 MS (Atmospheric Science): South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
1985 BE (Engineering): P.S.G. College of Technology, India

Professional Activities and Affiliations (Current and previous)Editorial Review Board for British Journal of Environment and Climate Change
Member, Huntsville Hospital IRB
University representative, USRA
CALIPSO Science Team
NASA Interdisciplinary Science Team
Chair for GEWEX Aerosol Working Group
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Associate Editor
Editorial Board for the Journal Atmosphere
Canadian Space Agency, Scientific Study and Evaluation Program.
GOES-R Independent Verification and Validation
GEOCAPE Aerosol Science Working Group
CCSP, Expert reviewer
Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Working Group - Aerosols and Climate
Solar Occultation Satellite Science Team (SOSST)
CERES-II Science Team
MODIS-II Science Team
Global Aerosol Climatology Project Science Team (GACP)
SCARAB Science Team, Principal Investigator
International ScaRaB Science Working Group (ISSWG)
ERBE -II Science Team
American Association for Aerosol Research
EOSDIS Subsetting Working Group
EOSDIS, Science Advisor
American Meteorological Society
American Geophysical Union
University Working Group Langley DAAC
TOMS Science Team

University
UAH, Investment Board for Rostock Initiatives Committee
UAH, Investment Board for CATHALAC Initiatives, Lead Committee Member
University Benefits Committee
Dean Evaluation Committee
Chair, College of Business Dean Search Committee
Member, Research Council
UAHuntsville NASULGC representative (Oceans and Atmosphere)
UAHuntsville Strategic Planning Committee for Research
UAHuntsville, Focused hire proposal lead for ATS
College of Science, Promotion and Tenure Committee
Department representative, Faculty Senate

University Research Awards
University Research Grant for Land Use Land Cover Research in Panama.
UAH Cross College Faculty Research (with Nursing)

Key Invited Presentations
2011 American Meteorological Society, Seattle
2009 American Geophysical Union, Terra at Ten
2009 Air and Waste Management Presentation, Critical Review
2008 United Nations Symposium on Space Applications
2007 United Nations Symposium on Space Applications
2006 American Association for Aerosol Research
Australian Meteorological and Oceanic Society
American Geophysical Union
American Meteorological Society, Student Professional Development

PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Christopher has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in various journals. He has more than 200 conference presentations and publications.

BOOKS
In 2011, The American Geophysical Union Published Dr. Christopher's book titled : Navigating Graduate School and Beyond : A Career Guide for Graduate Students and a Must Read for every Advisor. (read more). He is currently working on his second book which is for early career professionals in academia.

SERVICE
Dr. Christopher is actively involved in service activities at the university (faculty senate, employment benefits, commencement committees, Dean evaluation, research council, STEM initiaives, strategic planning) He is also involved in activities at the national level (reviewer for several journals, text books & funding agencies, science teams, science panels) and international level (science committees and invited speaker and editorial boards).